Z3 roadster with no amp to be found… anywhere!

[Vicious1]

So.. preamble: my first z, a z3 ‘99 is now in my drive way and it needs some work and I want to do stuff on it..
So there will be a loooot of messages and really stupid questions.
So here is the first.
I just spent the past few hours trying to find locations of the amp. It’s a German roadster and has no amp in the trunk and none in the passenger footwell or under the seats. There is no subwoofer in the center console.

i have replaced the crap speakers it came with and would love to put a subwoofer in. I have woofer but I have no clue where to draw the amp power from since no existing amp can be found.. anyone? Any idea? Like literally any idea?

 

[Rudyrov]

Seems to me that whatever happened before you bought it (including, may not ever of had the amp) is irrelevant.
Time to go to the local car stereo shop and get some gear.
There are various VIN tools available that might tell you if the car had one originally, but that was a long time ago my friend!

 

[Vicious1]

Yea vin decoder didn’t say anything.. gonna get a amp.. no problem .. only problem I am having is where to get the power from.. is there a diagram somewhere or a wire pair that can be spliced for the amp? And thanks for the tip

 

[Rudyrov]

Source unit as you know is in the dash, the battery is in the trunk. There are speakers locations all over the car and wiring that will have to be done to connect everything together. Depending on your concept for what you want to accomplish you might want to seek professional help or advice.

 

[t-tony]

Andy @spurs fan in a coupe may be able to help with the amp and location.

Tony.

 

[D R Oldfield]

My 1997 has no amp and only two speakers

 

[spurs fan in a coupe]

I have the HK boot amp and I can get the passenger footwell speaker out to see if the one I have has the inbuilt one still

Andy @spurs fan in a coupe may be able to help with the amp and location.

Tony.

 

[Vicious1]

So… if I see this correctly..
This z3 has the following:
6 speakers (footwell), door, behind the seat… but the amp was in the old head unit… no subwoofer..
So I will draw the rca cables then new to all the speakers and mount a 5 channel amp in the trunk drawing from the battery.. probably gonna put a bigger battery in

 

[Rudyrov]

My 1998 2.8 L had 3 different options as far as the audio system goes, basic stereo with possibly 2 main speakers and tweeters in the doors. The Hifi system with what looks like about 9 speakers (single Sub in the center rear console. The HK system with CD changer and possibly a better sub solution. I found this info on REALOEM.com, here is one of the pages I looked at;

RealOEM.com - Online BMW Parts Catalog

BMW parts Z3 E36 Z3 2.8 Single components hifi system

www.realoem.com

My current system uses mostly aftermarket speakers and an Alpine head unit with a single aftermarket sub in the center rear. I have the kick panel 6.5' and a pair of tweeters in the door. Also, I am using the stock amplifier and really should upgrade to a nice 3 channel, just too lazy to get in there since it works for now.
This system is ok for most but it doesn't rock like some, to do that would require a great deal of work including a larger sub in the trunk that would have to be vented to the front of the car to really perform.
The problem is the extensive cutting of panels and aftermarket work needed because of the design of the car.
That's why I say you need to design what you want to do, to do it correctly and preserve the car's value, otherwise grab some tools and go for it.

 

[Althulas]

You could buy better aftermarket amps and mount in the boot and take the power from the battery. Route your ice cables through holes in the rear bulkhead and underneath the carpet to the stereo. There’s a thread on here somewhere to make your own sub box to mount in the rear storage compartment. Well that the route I will be doing eventually. This thread will give you an idea and you will end up with a better sound https://zroadster.org/threads/and-so-it-begins-again.22108/page-49#post-483023

 

[Dunkelgrun]

My HK amp was in the trunk behind the carpet on the right. I replaced the whole system with a 5 channel amp in the trunk, 4 kicker speakers and a kicker sub, lot of effort but worth it

 

[Vicious1]

Yep found it, was in the passenger footwell, tiny lol thing. Replaced the kicker speakers, and the ones behind the seats. Bought a woofer and a 5 channel amp. Dragged today the rca cables into the back and the cables for the woofer into the middle box. Gonna redo the speaker wires for all the speakers when the amp is connected .. that’s the next step .. then should be worth it. Thanks for everyone’s help.. I love this car.. I enjoy driving my x5 but this one is just a bother experience

 

[the Nefyn cat]

just a bother experience

Yep, know that feeling.

 

[zixel]

So.. preamble: my first z, a z3 ‘99 is now in my drive way and it needs some work and I want to do stuff on it..
So there will be a loooot of messages and really stupid questions.
So here is the first.
I just spent the past few hours trying to find locations of the amp. It’s a German roadster and has no amp in the trunk and none in the passenger footwell or under the seats. There is no subwoofer in the center console.

i have replaced the crap speakers it came with and would love to put a subwoofer in. I have woofer but I have no clue where to draw the amp power from since no existing amp can be found.. anyone? Any idea? Like literally any idea?

I've a '99 too, not amp, just speakers in footwell, door & behind seats. I did replace the head unit a few years back so I could use BT, but the speakers have always been pants. Thought too about putting an amp in, but since the speakers are currently powered from the head unit, I think it would be a pretty big wiring job. So... initially I think I'll just replace the speakers and maybe put a better head unit it. Then maybe an amp later depending on how that sounds.

So I was wondering what speakers you went for? I assume you have some kind of splitter for the front, as it's splits to the footwell and door tweeters? did you find some upgraded tweeters that fitted under the current grills? I've seen some people but holes in them to fit bigger ones, in the door grills, but that looks so bad to me. I've rather have ones the fitted under.

So curious to know what you fitted and how it sounds compared to what you had, which I assume, will be much like mine.

 

[zixel]

I just replaced speakers in front. I did driver side first, footwell and door tweeters. Then did passenger side, tweeters in door.. then took the passenger footwell out expecting to see another speaker the drivers side, but instead found a speaker with a loom going into it and a tidy amp-thing bolted to speaker...

The loom plugged into the socket on the mini-amp with a connector.

Anyone know how I can bypass this?

Does it do front and back or just front?

heart sank when I saw this right at the last hurdle!! :/

I am guessing the loom has power and R/L coming in and will have amplified R going out (as amplified L is directly connected)... is this right?

Anyone got the wiring schema for the connector that goes into the mini amp?

 

[Eddie Zedder]

@zixel

 

[zixel]

thank you! exactly what I needed

 

[zixel]

Thank you!!

Removed and all sorted. Head unit powers the speakers just fine without the amp. Much better than it was.